(1) promoting the implementation of sound information practices for
privacy and security of student data or teacher or principal data;
(2) assisting the commissioner in handling instances of data breaches
as well as assisting the commissioner in due process proceedings
regarding any alleged breaches of student data or teacher or principal
data;
(3) providing assistance to educational agencies within the state on
minimum standards and best practices associated with privacy and the
security of student data or teacher or principal data;
(4) formulating a procedure within the department whereby parents,
students, teachers, superintendents, school board members, principals,
and other persons or entities the chief privacy officer determines is
appropriate, may request information pertaining to student data or
teacher or principal data in a timely and efficient manner;
(5) assisting the commissioner in establishing a protocol for the
submission of complaints of possible breaches of student data or teacher
or principal data;
(6) making recommendations as needed regarding privacy and the
security of student data on behalf of the department to the governor,
the speaker of the assembly, the temporary president of the senate, and
the chairs of the senate and assembly education committees; and
(7) issuing an annual report on data privacy and security activities
and progress, the number and disposition of reported breaches, if any,
and a summary of any complaint submitted pursuant to subparagraph five
of this paragraph.
c. The chief privacy officer shall have the power to:
(1) access all records, reports, audits, reviews, documents, papers,
recommendations, and other materials maintained by an educational agency
that relate to student data or teacher or principal data;
(2) to review and comment upon any department program, proposal,
grant, or contract that involves the processing of student data or
teacher or principal data before the commissioner begins or awards the
program, proposal, grant, or contract; and
(3) any other powers that the commissioner shall deem appropriate.
3. Parents bill of rights for data privacy and security. a. A parents
bill of rights for data privacy and security shall be published on the
website of each educational agency and shall be included with every
contract an educational agency enters into with a third party contractor
where the third party contractor receives student data or teacher or
principal data.
b. The parents bill of rights for data privacy and security shall
state in clear and plain English terms that:
(1) A student's personally identifiable information cannot be sold or
released for any commercial purposes;
(2) Parents have the right to inspect and review the complete contents
of their child's education record;
(3) State and federal laws protect the confidentiality of personally
identifiable information, and safeguards associated with industry
standards and best practices, including but not limited to, encryption,
firewalls, and password protection, must be in place when data is stored
or transferred;
(4) A complete list of all student data elements collected by the
State is available for public review at (insert website address here) or
by writing to (insert mailing address here); and
(5) Parents have the right to have complaints about possible breaches
of student data addressed. Complaints should be directed to (insert
phone number, email and mailing address here).
c. The parents bill of rights for data privacy and security shall
include supplemental information for each contract an educational agency
enters into with a third party contractor where the third party
contractor receives student data or teacher or principal data. Such
supplemental information shall be developed by the educational agency
and shall include:
(1) the exclusive purposes for which the student data or teacher or
principal data will be used;
(2) how the third party contractor will ensure that the
subcontractors, persons or entities that the third party contractor will
share the student data or teacher or principal data with, if any, will
abide by data protection and security requirements;
(3) when the agreement expires and what happens to the student data or
teacher or principal data upon expiration of the agreement;
(4) if and how a parent, student, eligible student, teacher or
principal may challenge the accuracy of the student data or teacher or
principal data that is collected; and
(5) where the student data or teacher or principal data will be stored
(described in such a manner as to protect data security), and the
security protections taken to ensure such data will be protected,
including whether such data will be encrypted.
d. The chief privacy officer, with input from parents and other
education and expert stakeholders, shall develop additional elements of
the parents bill of rights for data privacy and security. The
commissioner shall promulgate regulations for a comment period whereby
parents and other members of the public may submit comments and
suggestions to the chief privacy officer to be considered for inclusion.
The parents bill of rights for data privacy and security shall be
completed within one hundred twenty days after the effective date of
this section.
4. Data collection transparency and restrictions. a. The department
shall promote the least intrusive data collection policies practicable
that advance the goals of improving academic achievement, empowering
parents with information and advancing efficient and effective school
operations while minimizing the collection and transmission of
personally identifiable information.
b. The chief privacy officer shall develop, regularly update and make
publicly available on the department's website and through such
additional methods as may facilitate accessibility an inventory and
understandable description of the student, teacher and principal data
elements collected with an explanation and/or legal or regulatory
authority outlining the reasons such data elements are collected and the
intended uses and disclosure of the data.
c. Except as otherwise specifically authorized by law, the department
shall only collect personally identifiable information relating to an
educational purpose.
d. The department may only require districts to submit personally
identifiable information, including data on disability status and
student suspensions, where such release is required by law or otherwise
authorized under the family educational rights and privacy act, 20
U.S.C. section 1232g, and the personal privacy protection law.
e. Except as required by law or in the case of educational enrollment
data, school districts shall not report to the department the following
student data elements:
(1) juvenile delinquency records;
(2) criminal records;
(3) medical and health records; and
(4) student biometric information.
f. Personally identifiable information maintained by educational
agencies, including data provided to third-party contractors and their
assignees, shall not be sold or used for marketing purposes.
g. Parents shall have the right to inspect and review their child's
educational record including any student data stored or maintained by an
educational agency. The department shall develop policies for school
districts that:
(1) provide for annual notification to parents of their right to
request student data;
(2) ensure security when providing student data to parents, including
that only authorized individuals receive such data; and
(3) specify a reasonable amount of time in which school districts
should respond to such requests.
5. Data security and privacy standards. a. The commissioner, in
consultation with the chief privacy officer, shall promulgate
regulations establishing standards for educational agency data security
and privacy policies and shall develop one or more model policies for
use by educational agencies. The commissioner shall seek the input of
experts, including those from security, cyber-security and fields in
addition to education that have experience with personal data
protection, in developing such standards and policies.
b. The standards for data security and privacy policies shall include,
but not be limited to:
(1) data privacy protections, including criteria for determining
whether a proposed use of personally identifiable information would
benefit students and educational agencies, and processes to ensure that
personally identifiable information is not included in public reports or
other public documents;
(2) data security protections, including data systems monitoring, data
encryption, incident response plans, limitations on access to personally
identifiable information, safeguards to ensure personally identifiable
information is not accessed by unauthorized persons when transmitted
over communication networks, and destruction of personally identifiable
information when no longer needed; and
(3) application of all such restrictions, requirements and safeguards
to third-party contractors.
c. Following promulgation of regulations by the commissioner pursuant
to paragraph a of this subdivision each educational agency shall ensure
that it has a policy on data security and privacy in place that is
consistent with applicable state and federal laws and applied to student
data and, where applicable, to teacher or principal data. Such policy
shall be published on the educational agency's website, if it exists,
and notice of such policy shall be provided to all officers and
employees of the educational agency.
d. As applied to student data, such policy shall provide all
protections afforded to parents and persons in parental relationships,
or students where applicable, required under the family educational
rights and privacy act, 20 U.S.C. section 1232g, where applicable the
individuals with disabilities education act, sections fourteen hundred,
et seq. of title twenty of the United States code, and the federal
regulations implementing such statutes. Each educational agency shall
ensure that it has in place provisions in its contracts with third party
contractors or in separate data sharing and confidentiality agreements
that require that confidentiality of the shared student data or teacher
or principal data be maintained in accordance with federal and state law
and the educational agency's policy on data security and privacy.
e. Each educational agency that enters into a contract or other
written agreement with a third party contractor under which the third
party contractor will receive student data or teacher or principal data
shall ensure that such contract or agreement includes a data security
and privacy plan that outlines how all state, federal, and local data
security and privacy contract requirements will be implemented over the
life of the contract, consistent with the educational agency's policy on
data security and privacy. Such plan shall include, but shall not be
limited to, a signed copy of the parents bill of rights for data privacy
and security, and a requirement that any officers or employees of the
third party contractor and its assignees who have access to student data
or teacher or principal data have received or will receive training on
the federal and state law governing confidentiality of such data prior
to receiving access.
f. Each third party contractor that enters into a contract or other
written agreement with an educational agency under which the third party
contractor will receive student data or teacher or principal data shall:
(1) limit internal access to education records to those individuals
that are determined to have legitimate educational interests;
(2) not use the education records for any other purposes than those
explicitly authorized in its contract;
(3) except for authorized representatives of the third party
contractor to the extent they are carrying out the contract, not
disclose any personally identifiable information to any other party:
(i) without the prior written consent of the parent or eligible
student; or
(ii) unless required by statute or court order and the party provides
a notice of the disclosure to the department, district board of
education, or institution that provided the information no later than
the time the information is disclosed, unless providing notice of the
disclosure is expressly prohibited by the statute or court order;
(4) maintain reasonable administrative, technical and physical
safeguards to protect the security, confidentiality and integrity of
personally identifiable student information in its custody;
(5) uses encryption technology to protect data while in motion or in
its custody from unauthorized disclosure using a technology or
methodology specified by the secretary of the United States department
of health and human services in guidance issued under Section
13402(H)(2) of Public Law 111-5.
6. Breach and unauthorized release of personally identifiable
information. a. Each third party contractor that receives student data
or teacher or principal data pursuant to a contract or other written
agreement with an educational agency shall be required to notify such
educational agency of any breach of security resulting in an
unauthorized release of such data by the third party contractor or its
assignees in violation of applicable state or federal law, the parents
bill of rights for student data privacy and security, the data privacy
and security policies of the educational agency and/or binding
contractual obligations relating to data privacy and security, in the
most expedient way possible and without unreasonable delay. The
educational agency shall, upon notification by the third party
contractor, be required to report to the chief privacy officer any such
breach of security and unauthorized release of such data. The chief
privacy officer shall, upon belief that such breach and unauthorized
release constitutes criminal conduct, report such breach and
unauthorized release to law enforcement in the most expedient way
possible and without unreasonable delay.
b. In the case of an unauthorized release of student data, the
educational agency shall notify the parent or eligible student of the
unauthorized release of student data that includes personally
identifiable information from the student records of such student in the
most expedient way possible and without unreasonable delay. In the case
of an unauthorized release of teacher or principal data, the educational
agency shall notify each affected teacher or principal of the
unauthorized release of data that includes personally identifiable
information from the teacher or principal's annual professional
performance review in the most expedient way possible and without
unreasonable delay.
c. In the case of notification to a parent, eligible student, teacher
or principal under paragraph b of this subdivision due to the
unauthorized release of student data by a third-party contractor or its
assignee, the third-party contractor shall promptly reimburse the
educational agency for the full cost of such notification.
d. Each violation of a third party contractor pursuant to paragraph a
of this subdivision shall be punishable by a civil penalty of the
greater of five thousand dollars or up to ten dollars per student,
teacher, and principal whose data was released, provided that the latter
amount shall not exceed the maximum penalty under paragraph (a) of
subdivision six of section eight hundred ninety-nine-aa of the general
business law.
e. If the chief privacy officer determines that a third party
contractor or its assignee, in violation of applicable state or federal
law, the data privacy and security policies of the educational agency
provided by such educational agency to the third party contractor and/or
binding contractual obligations relating to data privacy and security,
has released any student data or teacher or principal data received from
an educational agency to any person or entity not authorized by law to
receive such data pursuant to a lawful subpoena or otherwise, the chief
privacy officer, after affording the third party contractor with notice
and an opportunity to be heard, shall be authorized to:
(1) order that the third party contractor be precluded from accessing
student data or teacher or principal data, as applicable, from the
educational agency from which the contractor obtained the data that was
improperly disclosed for a fixed period of up to five years; and/or
(2) order that a third party contractor or assignee who knowingly or
recklessly allowed for the unauthorized release of student data or
teacher or principal data be precluded from accessing student data or
teacher or principal data from any educational agency in the state for a
fixed period of up to five years; and/or
(3) order that a third party contractor or assignee who knowingly or
recklessly allowed for the unauthorized release of student data or
teacher or principal data shall not be deemed a responsible bidder or
offerer on any contract with an educational agency that involves the
sharing of student data or teacher or principal data, as applicable for
purposes of the provisions of section one hundred three of the general
municipal law or paragraph c of subdivision ten of section one hundred
sixty-three of the state finance law, as applicable, for a fixed period
of up to five years; and/or
(4) require the third party contractor to provide training at the
contractor's expense on the federal and state law governing
confidentiality of student data and/or teacher or principal data and the
provisions of this section to all its officers and employees with access
to such data, prior to being permitted to receive subsequent access to
such data from the educational agency from which the contractor obtained
the data that was improperly disclosed or from any educational agency;
and/or
(5) if it is determined that the unauthorized release of student data
or teacher or principal data on the part of the third party contractor
or assignee was inadvertent and done without intent, knowledge,
recklessness or gross negligence, the commissioner may determine that no
penalty be issued upon the third party contractor.
7. Implementation and enforcement. a. The commissioner, in
consultation with the chief privacy officer, shall promulgate
regulations establishing procedures to implement the provisions of this
section, including but not limited to procedures for the submission of
complaints from parents and/or persons in parental relation to students,
classroom teachers or building principals, or other staff of an
educational agency, making allegations of improper disclosure of student
data and/or teacher or principal data by a third party contractor or its
officers, employees or assignees that may be subject to the sanctions
set forth in subdivision six of this section. Upon receipt of a
complaint or other information indicating that such an improper
disclosure by a third party contractor may have occurred, the chief
privacy officer shall be authorized to investigate, visit, examine and
inspect the third party contractor's facilities and records and obtain
documentation from, or require the testimony of, any party relating to
the alleged improper disclosure of student data or teacher or principal
data.
b. Except as provided under paragraph d of subdivision six of this
section, each violation of any provision of this section by a third
party contractor or its assignee shall be punishable by a civil penalty
of up to one thousand dollars; a second violation by the same third
party contractor involving the same student data or teacher or principal
data shall be punishable by a civil penalty of up to five thousand
dollars; any subsequent violation by the same third party contractor
involving the same student date or teacher or principal data shall be
punishable by a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars. Each
violation of this subdivision shall be considered a separate violation
for purposes of civil penalties and the total penalty shall not exceed
the maximum penalty under paragraph (a) of subdivision six of section
eight hundred ninety-nine-aa of the general business law.
c. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as creating a
private right of action against the department or an educational agency.
d. Nothing in this section shall limit the administrative use of
student data or teacher or principal data by a person acting exclusively
in the person's capacity as an employee of an educational agency or of
the state or any of its political subdivisions, any court or the federal
government that is otherwise required by law.
Structure New York Laws